RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Wisconsin >> Lafayette County >> Fort Gratiot >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Fort Gratiot, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Fort Gratiot and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Fort Gratiot:
    • 42.551616, -90.233243
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Fort Gratiot
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Lafayette County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lafayette County
    • Since Fort Gratiot is near Jo Daviess County and also Grant County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jo Daviess County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grant County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Fort Gratiot

Communities Also Named Fort Gratiot ...

We found one communities that are also named Fort Gratiot.

Within Wisconsin, the name Fort Gratiot is unique.

Beyond Wisconsin, there is another community also named Fort Gratiot in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Michigan
      • Saint Clair County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Fort Gratiot [Saint Clair County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Fort Gratiot ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Council Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Council Hill is located in Jo Daviess County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Council Hill
  • Cuba City
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Cuba City is located in Grant County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuba City
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,047 people
  • Elk Grove
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Hazel Green
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Hazel Green is located in Grant County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazel Green
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,219 people
  • Jenkinsville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Jenkinsville is located in Lafayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenkinsville
  • Lead Mine
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Lead Mine is located in Lafayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lead Mine
  • Meekers Grove
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Meekers Grove is located in Lafayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meekers Grove
  • New Diggings
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Red Rock
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Red Rock is located in Lafayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Rock
  • Scales Mound
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Sweet Home ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Sweet Home is located in Jo Daviess County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweet Home

How Far From Fort Gratiot to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Fort Gratiot to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic community of Fort Gratiot once stood, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Fort Gratiot and extending to:

  • Darlington, which is the Seat of Lafayette County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<3> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Fort Gratiot to Darlington, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Madison, which is the State Capital of Wisconsin, lies 55 miles [88.5 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 734 miles [1,181.3 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 42 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,243 miles [10,047.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,988 miles [11,246.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,878 miles [7,850.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Fort Gratiot, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Fort Gratiot) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<5>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Fort Gratiot to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Fort Gratiot. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.5516, Longitude: -90.2332    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.183 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.419 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.686 degrees.